The Alliance And Missile Defense

Abstract

As originally conceived by President Ronald Reagan, the Strategic Defense Initiative was potentially more disruptive of transatlantic relations than the Sentinel antiballistic missile system of 1967 or the Safeguard system of 1969. While Sentinel and Safeguard were short-term programs with specific and limited objectives, SDI was a vague, longterm program aimed at substituting an ambitious area defense of the United States for the doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction, which many Western Europeans believe is responsible for 40 years of peace in Europe. Unlike Sentinel and Safeguard, SDI posed a serious threat to a major arms control agreement. Many Western European leaders consider the 1972 ABM Treaty to be a crucial component of Western security and an important symbol of superpower cooperation. Given current budgetary constraints and SDI's more modest objectives under the Bush administration, the ABM Treaty is no longer perceived in Western Europe to be in jeopardy. Moreover, SDI no longer appears to be an insurmountable obstacle to the successful completion of the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks.